


even a couple of losers can survive most things if they're together

by Deisderium



Series: The First Rule of Book Club [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Movie club, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sarah Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve and Bucky Watch Cartoons, Studio Ghibli References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 05:57:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17461910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deisderium/pseuds/Deisderium
Summary: Steve and Bucky watch Studio Ghibli movies.(This is really just a series of vignettes that I'll add to over time. The title is fromMy Neighbors the Yamadas)





	even a couple of losers can survive most things if they're together

The thing is, Steve never really had a chance to get good at cooking. In the thirties, he and Bucky were so broke, they got practiced at making about three dishes really well, because the ingredients were cheap. KP in basic hadn't taught him all that much either, though he could dice a carrot or peel potatoes in his sleep when he was done; and once he and Bucky were in Europe, meals had been MREs and whatever they could scavenge off the countryside--which was not much. They were from Brooklyn and knew approximately fuck all about the countryside. 

Even after he'd woken up in the new century, he hadn't really spent much time thinking about making his own food. There'd been a lot to do, and a seemingly infinite number of restaurants ready to bring him cuisines from around the world. He'd seen no reason to make cooking a priority. 

But Bucky has been cooking for him, and Steve wants to reciprocate, so he'd gotten Nat to help him look up some recipes and YouTube tutorials. Steve is not, historically, all that great at following instruction, but then again, this pork satay isn't harboring fascists, so sticking to the directions hasn't been too much of a trial.

It's movie night. Steve hasn't made much of an inroad on his notebook of suggestions--after a while, the sheer number of them made it too overwhelming to pick a place to start--but he's very happy to watch whatever Bucky wants to. Bucky's noticed how much he likes animation, and asked his friends for some ideas, and they delivered quite a list. 

Bucky queues up _My Neighbor Totoro_ once the food is ready, and they're sitting on the couch with a plate of satay and peanut noodles and cucumber salad. 

"This is good," Bucky says, and nudges him in the side because he knows Steve isn't much of a cook--maybe he can say _wasn't_ much of a cook, now. This is one of his finer efforts. He jams peanut butter noodles into his maw with perhaps more pride than is reasonable. But it's something he made for the two of them, a thing he taught himself because he wanted to learn; and it has nothing to do with fighting. 

Steve is enchanted from the moment the credits roll: the little girl walking through a path of tiny creatures. It's...charming; the word he wants is charming, and he is immediately charmed. As the story goes on, he thinks also that it is gentle. A father and two daughters have moved to a new town to be close to the hospital where the mother is recovering from some unspecified illness. Steve can't help thinking of the tuberculosis his own mother died from. The girls find forest spirits and follow them. 

It's the kind of movie where the neighbors are friendly. It's the kind of movie where the younger girl finds a giant furry creature in the woods and climbs on it without hesitation, where a giant catbus is here to help, not steal children away, where magical creatures share umbrellas with children at bus stops. Steve's fingers itch for his sketchbook--the art is so whimsical but grounded at the same time. 

It's also the kind of movie where the youngest girl runs away because she thinks her mother's dying. Tears spring to Steve's eyes at her heartbroken wail. Bucky glances at him and sidles closer, wrapping his arm around Steve. The plates are long abandoned on the table, and Steve has no compunctions about burrowing into Bucky's side. 

When his own mother was actually sick and dying, he'd been too proud and too prickly to easily accept the help that was on offer. God knows Bucky had tried to make things easier on him, but Buck had had to push help on him to get him to accept it at all. But Steve hopes he's learned at least a little since then. Warmth and an arm to lean on aren't so thick on the ground that he'll pass them up, especially coming from Bucky. He regrets that his younger self thought he had to do everything alone; it didn't really prove anything, and he'd missed out on this. 

The movie wraps up; the mother lives and is reunited with her children. There's a hollow pain in Steve's chest, a sense of bittersweetness that no amount of smirking catbus or soot sprites can dissipate. 

"You okay, pal?" Bucky asks. They are pulled tight enough together that Steve feels his voice as a rumble through his side. 

Steve lets his head fall a little lower onto Bucky's shoulder. "Yeah, I'm all right. Just thinking about Ma." 

"I figured." Bucky squeezes him a little tighter. "Anything I can do to help?" 

"You're already doing it." 

They curl up together, and Bucky runs his fingers through Steve's hair until the ache in Steve's chest eases. His ma left a hollow space, and maybe that won't ever go away, but even so. 

So much of his heart is full.


End file.
